The present invention relates to a suspension arm for upward and downward swingably supporting wheels of a vehicle, and more specifically to an arrangement for mounting the suspension arm to the vehicle body.
Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. 11-268510 discloses an arrangement for mounting a suspension arm to a vehicle body such as a suspension member. The suspension arm is supported by elastomer bushings at front and rear mount portions spaced in a fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle body. At the rear mount portion, a pin extending from a rear end of the suspension arm in the rearward direction of the vehicle body is received and supported by the elastomer bushing.
However, if an impact force is applied to such a suspension arm mounting arrangement as described in the related art from a front of the vehicle body upon occurrence of vehicle front collision, the suspension member will be collapsed and rearward moved. Then, the suspension arm will be forced to move relatively rearward so as to reduce the space between the front and rear mount portions. The rearward movement of the suspension arm will cause an elastomeric member of the elastomer bushing to be fractured, causing the pin to be rearward displaced. In this case, if a vehicle body frame such as a dash panel is located on a rear side of the suspension arm, it will be required to ensure a sufficient space between the rear end of the suspension arm and the vehicle body frame in order to prevent the pin from being impinged against the vehicle body frame. However, such an arrangement of the suspension arm and the vehicle body frame will be undesirable from the viewpoint of space saving.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an arrangement for mounting a suspension arm to a vehicle body, in which when an impact force applied to the suspension arm, a pin provided at a rear mount portion of the suspension arm can be prevented from being contacted with a vehicle body frame without requiring a large space between the pin and the vehicle frame member. The arrangement therefore can serve for space saving. Further, in the arrangement, the suspension arm can be deformed such that the pin is oriented toward a downward direction of the vehicle body upon application of the impact force to the suspension arm. The arrangement therefore can serve for absorbing the impact energy produced upon vehicle collision.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a suspension arm mounting arrangement for a vehicle, the arrangement comprising:
a suspension arm having a rear end relative to a fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle;
a pin extending from said rear end of said suspension arm in a rearward direction of the vehicle;
an elastomer bushing supporting said pin, said elastomer bushing including an outer cylindrical member substantially coaxially extending with said pin, said elastomer bushing being adapted to be secured to a body of the vehicle; and
a stop positioned forwardly apart from said outer cylindrical member and projecting in a downward direction of the vehicle to be opposed to said outer cylindrical member.
In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a suspension arm mounting arrangement for a vehicle, the arrangement comprising:
a suspension arm extending in a fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle and having a rear mount portion;
elastic support means for elastically supporting said rear mount portion of said suspension arm relative to a body of the vehicle, said elastic support means including an outer cylindrical member adapted to be secured to the body of the vehicle; and
stop means for cooperating with said outer cylindrical member to limit displacement of said rear mount portion in a rearward direction of the vehicle.